WYE Geometry

This was done with Atlas O54 curves and a cross over using O54 switches.

I have mirrored Wye's across the middle of my figure 8 layout.

The Wye's are O-72 then I have O-54 curves to O-72 switches on the perpendicular sides.

I have also seen folks do the Wye, then cross back across themsleves prior to mating the main cross line. This allows a much shorter straight between the switches on the Perp. straight line.

Reversing on a Wye requires a straight as long as the train on each side of the wye. This can eat a lot of space.

If I understand you are referring to a wye looping back to itself.

I will draw up one in RR Track later.

Do you have a preferred minimum curve?

Russell,

I will use O-72 curve, because I want a big loop, so I can put a lot of stuff in the middle.  This would be a loop somewhere after the bridge to nowhere.  May not be practical, so I wanted a professional opinion before I start experimenting with wyes and switches.  They are too expensive to buy a bunch to experiment with.  I guess in my mind's eye it would be a teardrop.

When I was designing my new staging yard expansion, I knew I would need a mix of curved switches and a few "regular" ones.  Curved switches are expensive for experimentation purposes.  I downloaded a copy of Anyrail and was able to design the whole thing for free.  It has libraries for every brand of track in all scales.  Learning is very easy.  The free version is limited to layouts with at most 50 or so sections of track/switches but for my purposes and yours, no problem.

http://www.anyrail.com/index_en.html

OK, I made some up in Ross Custom track:

First one O-72 everything, all stock parts, 2 10" and 3 3" straights

Second O-72 Wye O-54 curves except far rt 2 O-72 curves one is cut to 20.29°

Third O-54 Everything, has one cut straight at rt side 5.4" long

Another common design using a O-72 WYE turnout is the layout I am presently constructing. The WYE turnout is located at the entrance to my stub yard. The WYE allows engines to back into the yard and then reverse direction.

See my Dispatcher Panel which shows my layout design which uses O-72 and O-54 track.  All turnouts are O-72.

Note: I am using MTH RealTrax track and RealTrax O-72 turnouts on my layout. As shown the layout has an outer O-72 loop, a long passing siding, a wye track and stub yard track and two long sidings which I will use for car and engine storage.

Here are links to "Y" combinations on the Atlas O website.

Wye tracks using O54 curves and switches.

Wye tracks using O72 curves and switches.

Obviously there are a lot of combinations one can make with an O-72 wye.  My original thought was to use it as a turn around with a lot of scenery in between.  But, maybe I should consider the "in between" as yard track to park engines and cars not running on the mainline.  That's what this forum is all about - new ideas!  One can think outside the box, or one can also proselyte the ideas of others, i.e.  "When 'Omer smote his bloomin lyre; e'd 'erd men sing by land and sea; and what e thought e might require; e went and took, the same as me; they knew e stole, e knew they knowed, but didn't tell nor make a fuss, but winked at 'Omer down th road".  "Rudyard Kipling"

I am building a WYE track into my yard.  I will be using left and right O-72 RailTrax turnouts and an O-72 WYE track. Can someone verify the track sections that I need to complete this WYE configuration?  I do not have the software to check this.

My guess is that I will need 2 half O-72 sections to complete the curved portions. And two 3-1/2 straights, one 5 inch straight and six 10 inch straights to complete the straight portion.

Can someone verify this for me?

Wye tracks using 072 curves and switches from the post above.   There are (4) yard ladders posted.

or, the reversing loop, elevated over your city loop accessed from the bridge to nowhere.

1 switch, lots of curves and fitters. Here's a FasTrack from SCARM:

For the reverse loop with a "teardrop"  i would consider a number 5 switch.   A wye turnaround uses three switches like Mike CT. A reverse loop uses one.

Bill D

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Reversing track using a WYE switch

Here is the solution for a WYE that I have used on my layout.  I am using all MTH RealTrax.